Cleveland Museum of Natural History Scientist Announces New Horned
Dinosaur

May 28, 2010 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D., a scientist at The Cleveland Museum of Natural
History, announces the discovery of a new horned dinosaur, Medusaceratopslokii. Approximately 20 feet long, weighing more than 2 tons, the
plant-eating dinosaur lived nearly 78 million years ago during the Late
Cretaceous period in what is now Montana. Its identification marks the
discovery of a new genus.

Ryan, curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Museum, published his
findings in the book, “New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs,”
from Indiana University Press.

The dinosaur was discovered in a bonebed on private land located along
the Milk River in North Central Montana. Fossilized bones from the site
were acquired by Canada Fossils, Ltd., of Calgary, Alberta, in the
mid-1990s. The company consulted Ryan and his colleagues to identify
material from the site. At first, scientists could not make a positive
identification.

Medusaceratops had giant brow bones more than 3 feet long over
each eye, and a large, shield-like frill off the back of its skull
adorned with large curling hooks. Medusaceratops lokii means
“Loki’s horned-faced Medusa,” referring to the thickened, snake-like
hooks on the side of the frill. It was named after Loki, the Norse god
of mischief, because it caused scientists some confusion.

“At first we couldn’t figure out what we had,” said Ryan. “Some of the
material looked as if it came from a form related to Centrosaurus,
a centrosaurine noted for having short brow horns. The rest of the
pieces had giant brow horns similar to Triceratops, a
chasmosaurine. Here we have something almost the size of Triceratops,
but 10 million years before it lived.”

“Although the ornamentation on the frill is pretty spectacular, it
probably was not used for defense against predators; rather it was more
likely prehistoric 'bling' used to attract a mate,” said co-author
Anthony Russell, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences at the
University of Calgary in Alberta.

The research was conducted when Ryan was a Ph.D. candidate working with
Russell at the University of Calgary. Much of the material, including
the holotype, is in the collection of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in
Thermopolis, Wyoming, with other material curated at the Royal Tyrrell
Museum in Drumheller, Alberta.